Lindsey says mayor's meeting should be public

Evansville City Council members are being called to Mayor Lloyd Winnecke's office to hear his recommendations on the Downtown hotel, and at least one member said he's declining the invitation.

Councilman Al Lindsey, D-6th Ward, said such discussions should take place in public view. Winnecke said he has selected a firm to build the hotel, and after discussing his choice with council members, he will bring it to an open meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission this month.

"I don't understand all the secrecy with this stuff," Lindsey said Friday. "If it's a competitive thing and you have to keep your incentive project quiet, that makes sense. But this is a hotel project that going to go or not go. … That always makes you look bad when you do things behind closed doors."

The developers who submitted proposals were Gatehouse Capital Corp. of Dallas; HCW of Branson, Mo.; and Swerdling & Associates of Denver. City officials said each hotel plan will have retail and restaurant developments, plus connections to the Ford Center and Centre.

Public financing will be part of the package.

Lindsey said he views Winnecke's rollout process as too secretive from an administration that promised transparency in government.

Council Finance Chairman John Friend, D-5th Ward, and Vice President Dan Adams, D-At Large, said they accepted their invitations to meet with the mayor.

"The challenges you have when you unfold everything to all the council members at once is, they are going to be passing out a big thick packet of data," Friend said. "It becomes very difficult for even the best-trained eye while you're trying to ask questions in an open forum. It doesn't go well. You wind up not asking questions that should be asked.

"What I perceive is that you go down and have a meeting and you roll this stuff out, listen to the spiel, then you take the data back and do your calculations. That's what I'll do … and find out if it makes sense."

Lindsey said the one-on-one meetings create an appearance problem.

"I know what Al's talking about, that if you go behind closed doors it looks like you're getting your arm twisted," Friend said. "That's not going to happen. I respectfully disagree with the approach about not meeting with the mayor."

Adams said it's also possible negotiations are continuing, even though Winnecke has said he has selected a developer.

Adams, a retired physician, said he looks forward to seeing a proposal.

"I happen to think we do need a Downtown hotel because, as a doctor, I've never been to a convention where the hotel wasn't close," he said. "To handle the mechanics and logistics of a convention, being a mile or 10 minutes away doesn't do it."

Winnecke's office Friday responded to a request for comment on the status of the hotel project by releasing a statement.

"The city continues to perform due diligence in the process to select a developer for the convention hotel project. Mayor Winnecke and an advisory group made up of community and financial leaders, including two members of the City Council, interviewed and evaluated the three development teams chosen from the RFP process.

"The mayor, with input from the advisory group and City Council intends to make a recommendation at a public meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission in the near future for further action."

The two City Council members who sat in on those sessions with the three development teams were Council President Connie Robinson, D-4th Ward, and Councilman Dan McGinn, R-1st Ward. Vanderburgh County Commissioners President Marsha Abell also attended.